FBISE will conduct
these examinations for the first time as per the directives of the Ministry of
Education and it has finalized all the arrangements for holding the
examinations.

Earlier, the examinations were conducted under Federal
Directorate of Education (FDE). Now, the education ministry has taken the
decision of conducting examinations under FBISE from this year to bring more
transparency.

The students from private and public schools of the federal
capital can appear in the examinations. While the private students can also take
part following the rules.

Admission forms can be obtained from the FBISE
and the admission fee for the exams can be submitted till January
31.

However, the forms can be submitted with double fee of Rs800 from
February 1 to 10.

The students of the public schools can send admission
through their respective schools while private students will have to get their
forms attested from the head of any school working under Federal Directorate of
Education (FDE) before submission.

The scholarship exams will include the
subjects of English, General Science, Urdu and Mathematics and follow the
syllabus of FDE.

The date sheet for the exams has been issued according
to which the paper of Mathematics will be held on March 21, Urdu on March 22,
General Science on March 24 and English on March 26. The news

Your Comments
"This is very good program for the student...can it also be for the quetta student"
Name: Haroon
Email: haroon_boy10@yahoo.com
City, Country:Quetta,Pakistan

50pc schools short of science teachers
Rawalpindi: About 50 per cent of
secondary schools in Rawalpindi district are facing shortage of science
teachers, creating problems for both the school administrations and students, it
has been learnt.

There are over 300 secondary schools, both for boys and girls, in the
district and majority of them offer science subjects – Physics, Chemistry,
Biology and Mathematics. However, these institutions have been unable to resolve
the shortage of science teachers due to various reasons.

The teacher-student ratio in the schools offering science subjects is 1:40
whereas two humanities teachers are engaged for the same number of students in
every school.

"In boys' schools, the shortage is 40 per cent and in girls schools it is 65
to 70 per cent," said the vice principal of a secondary school wishing not to be
named. He said the education department was finding it difficult to attract
science graduates with bachelor in education (BEd). It is also difficult to
retain them due to low wages, he added.The administrations of schools facing
shortage often hire private persons to teach the students or obtain the services
of science teachers from other schools in extra time, he said.

Besides, the Punjab government has not recruited science teachers on a
regular bases in BPS-16 for a long time and efforts are always made to make up
the deficiency through contractual hiring, the vice principal said.

On the other hand, students and their parents have their own stories to tell
as certain schools in rural and far-off areas do not offer science subjects and
the students have to travel long distance to other institutes. "Every father
wants his children acquire better education at the SSC level in affordable fee,"
said Hasnat Ahmed.

He said he had got his son admitted to a school in Rawalpindi city and the
child had to come from a village near Adiala as private school provided
expensive education and no government school offering science subjects was
located in his area.

The situation is even worse for girl students as it is harder to find
qualified female science teachers and the students cannot go far away from their
houses, he added.

When contacted, Executive District Officer (education) Qazi Zahoorul Haq
admitted that there was shortage of science teachers. However, he said the
percentage was not 50 per cent. It may be 30 per cent in schools for boys and 40
per cent for girls.

"The shortage cannot be resolved permanently as increasing number of science
teachers quit government schools as soon as they get a better job." He said
after the introduction of local government system, the provincial government had
allowed the district education departments to engage teachers on contractual
basis to make up for the deficiency but the teachers could not be retained on
contract.

A science contractual teacher is paid Rs6,500 and people with qualifications
in science can easily get jobs with better wages, he said.

The EDO said a proposal had been floated to hire teachers with FSc and BEd as
they only have only to teach at the SSC level but the government did not
consider the proposal. Dawn

Think of your ancestors before an exam
Islamabad: Spending a few minutes thinking about your ancestors before an exam or job interview can
significantly boost your chances of success.

The so-called 'ancestor
effect' appears to work by acting as a reminder to the brain that seemingly
impossible hurdles can be overcome, BBC reported. Psychologists think the effect
may be rooted in the fact that those who familiarise themselves with their
family history appear to gain a stronger sense of identity and self-esteem,
which somehow boosts intellectual performance.

To test their theory,
researchers in Germany asked 80 students to spend 5 minutes thinking about their
15th century ancestors, their great-grandparents or a recent trip to the shops.
Immediately afterwards, the students were asked how confident they felt about
upcoming exams. The students then underwent a range of intelligence
tests.

The group that remembered lost generations was more confident
about their chances of success and showed a marked improvement in the tasks
assigned to them than those who simply recalled a more mundane memory. In one,
the ''ancestor effect'' boosted scores to 14 out of a maximum 16, compared with
just ten out of 16 in the rival group.

The findings suggest that
remembering the hardships of grandparents, great grandparents and even long
forgotten ancestors, seems to have a direct benefit on the brain's ability to
cope with demands on its intelligence. The researchers said that when we think
about our ancestors, we are reminded that humans who are genetically similar to
us can successfully overcome a multitude of problems and adversities. The study
concluded that whenever people are in a situation where performance is
extraordinarily important, such as exams or job interviews, they have an easy
technique to increase their success - a reminder about their ancestors that can
significantly increase intellectual performance.

Students hold walk to raise awareness about environment
Rawalpindi: A walk on environment and reuse of waste material was organised by the Shining Star School
System, in collaboration with the ITA, ECA and the Punjab Education Foundation
here on Sunday, says a press release.

The participants of the walk were
students and teachers of different schools. The purpose of the walk was to
create awareness among the masses to reuse waste material and save environment
from pollution and create awareness among the people about negative impacts of
environmental pollution on human life.

The participants of the walk held
banners and placards to highlight the need for protecting the earth for the
survival of humanity.

The walk began from Allama Iqbal Colony and after
passing through various streets of the colony concluded at the Shining Star
School, Rawalpindi.

Addressing the concluding ceremony, Rehana Qaisar of
the Punjab Education Foundation said that the walk was aimed at raising
awareness among students about environment-related issues.

Shining Star
School System Principal Mr Tayyab said that the massive pollution in urban area
had endangered the biodiversity of the country.

He said that now mass
awareness in students is the best way to reduce environmental pollution.

More PSC examination centres needed in Peshawar
Peshawar: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission is confronted with the difficult task of
finding space for setting up examination centres in the city for the thousands
of candidates sitting in the Provincial Management Service (PMS) competitive
examination beginning on January 17 because most of them want their centre to be
in the provincial metropolis.

Some of the candidates even staged protest
in the city on Friday to demand change of their examination centre to Peshawar.

They argued that they were living, studying or doing jobs in Peshawar
and, therefore, it would be inconvenient for them to travel to their district of
domicile for appearing in the PMS competitive examination.

The Commission
had allocated examination centres to the candidates on the basis of their
domicile. Thus those having domicile certificate from Dera Ismail Khan, Mardan,
Swat, Abbottabad and other districts were directed to appear in the PMS
competitive examination in their respective district headquarters. However, a
large number of candidates found this inconvenient and began applying for a
change of examination centre. Many sought recommendation from politicians and
other influential people to get their centres changed to Peshawar.

The KP
Public Service Commission couldn't accommodate all the candidates in Peshawar
due to the difficulty in finding examination centre halls. It didn't have enough
funds to rent a place to conduct the examination. As a last resort, the
Commission has decided to convert its own premises into examination halls and
accommodate as many candidates as possible there.

A total of 16,300
candidates have applied to appear in the PMS competitive examination this year
and it was learnt that almost 10,000 wanted to sit for the examination in
Peshawar.

The number of candidates showed a big increase this year. Last
year the numbers were much less when the first PMS competitive examination was
conducted.

About 179 candidates qualified in the end and were offered
jobs in the provincial government. At least five qualified candidates reportedly
passed the CSS competitive examination and opted for jobs on offer
there.

The qualified PMS candidates last year were sent to the Institute
of Management Sciences (IMS) in Hayatabad, Peshawar for training. This was the
first time that the IMS conducted such training and most of the candidates
expressed dissatisfaction with the arrangements and the training methods and
quality.

This year 16,300 candidates from all over the province would be
appearing for fewer jobs than last year. It was learnt that there are 64 PMS
jobs on offer for male and female candidates. Another 14 seats have been
reserved exclusively for females. Besides, six jobs in the Excise and Taxation
department would also be filled while five seats would be reserved for disabled
candidates. The news

Recruitment of 86 teachers notified
Karak: The executive district
officer education on Saturday issued a notification of the recruitment of 86
male primary schoolteachers.

The teachers, who had taken the tests and interviews in Jan 2010, have been
asked to report to the head teachers of the respective schools within 14 days of
issuance of the notification.

It was learnt that the district officer female who is the member of the
recruitment committee was reluctant to sign the notification of the recruitment
of teachers of other cadres.

Meanwhile, Jan Alam advocate, a candidate of JUI-F, was elected as president
of the Karak district bar association for the second consecutive term, while
Waseeullah advocate was elected as general secretary on Saturday.

Election for the district bar was held at district court premises supervised
by Ameer Khan advocate, Sakhi Janan advocate and Ghulam Mohayyudin advocate.

Somalian education minister visits IIU
Islamabad: Dr. Abdinur Sheikh Mohamed, minister of education, culture and higher education of Somalia visited
the International Islamic University (IIU) to share the academic experience of
the educational system of Somalia and Pakistan. Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik
Rector IIU welcomed the guest and briefed him about the university, its
objectives and achievements in last 25 years of its existence, said a news
release issued here on Saturday. Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik told him that
the university is imparting quality education in all the fields of life. The news